Jackson

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  I fell hard to the ground, landing in what I thought was mud. I was no longer tied, but I couldn’t move my arms or legs no matter how much I tried. How much of that shit had they given me? My face was in mud, squishing against my skin and slipping inside my mouth, but I couldn’t move to get it out.

  “What are we supposed to do with him now?”

  “Leave him here. The boss said we leave him here until he gives us further orders.”

  Where was here? Who was the boss?

  “What does the boss have against this guy?”

  “Don’t know. He said he’s just following orders.”

  Metal slammed together and then they were gone. I laid there for hours, waking up a little more every time. My body started to shake as the drugs wore off and I pulled my knees up to my chest to ward off the chill. It was only then that I realized I was stripped naked. I pushed up to my knees and hit my head when I tried to stand. The ceiling wasn’t even high enough for me to sit up all the way on my knees.

  The metal I had heard earlier was the sound of the door slamming. I was in a cell with a door similar to those in a prison. The door was only wide enough for one person to fit through. Even though the world was tilting in every direction, I held out my hand and tried to grip onto the bars. It took me a few tries before I connected with a bar and when I tried to push against it, I fell to the side, slamming into the ground again.

  Refusing to give up, I felt along the walls to find out how wide my cell was, but came up short after just a few feet. I wouldn’t even be able to stretch out all the way in here. Trying to escape was pointless right now. Even if I got out of here, I wasn’t sure I would be able to walk in a semi-straight line. I huddled in the corner of the cell, trying to escape the chill of the night air as much as possible until the drugs wore off. At least the wind wasn’t hitting me directly.

  When my head finally felt clear enough to think, I sat up and leaned back against the wall. I was still dizzy and the events of the last however many hours were still fuzzy in my mind. From what I could piece together, I had been taken at Reed Security and then transported on a plane. Someone wanted something with me, but what exactly, I wasn’t sure. What I did know was that they were going to get what they needed through torture. I wasn’t just hanging around in this cell naked for no reason.

  When the first light of dawn started to appear, I looked out of my cell for any sign of where I was, but all I saw were trees. Palm trees, to be exact, though I highly doubted I was in Florida. I could see a path that trailed off through the trees, but the trees were so dense that I couldn’t see where it led. I sat back against the wall across from my cell door and let the cooler air wash over me. I could feel the humidity building already and I was sure as soon as the sun was up, I would be sweating profusely.

  It was a few hours before anyone came to see me again. It was a man that looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place his face. He approached me hesitantly and squatted down to my level. Shoving a shallow metal bowl under the door, he took a step back like I was going to attack him. With what? I looked down at the bowl and grimaced at the supposed meat that was in the watery concoction. He pulled out a bottle of water and rolled it to me under the door. Interesting. Maybe bad water in the area?

  The man sat back and watched me, probably trying to figure out what I would do. Since there really was nothing I could do right now, I stared back. The man was sweating, but it wasn’t warm enough yet for that. And then there was the way he was squatting, perched like he was ready to run. He looked around in disgust, but none of it was directed at me, but the area in general. He didn’t even have a gun strapped to him.

  “Who are you?” I asked after a minute, snatching the water bottle up and guzzling half the bottle.

  “You don’t need to know that.” His voice wasn’t the strong, intimidating kind that I would have expected. In fact, he almost seemed like he didn’t want to be here. I didn’t want to push though and ruin my chances with him. I had to let him get to know me first.

  “Do you know why I’m here?”

  He shrugged. “I just do what I’m told.”

  “Thank you for the water,” I said, lifting the bottle in a thanks gesture.

  He nodded and took a step back. He looked like he wanted to say something more, but then turned and walked away. I could work on him. A guy like him didn’t want to be in a place like this, doing whatever he was doing. Since I was so out of it last night, I hadn’t been able to check the bars on the door for any weak spots. I quickly felt around the bars, looking for someplace to dig, but the ground was hard after just an inch. If I started digging, it would take weeks to get out and someone would notice the hole as I dug. I could try digging next to the concrete wall and hope that no one would notice, but it wasn’t a guarantee. Right now, it was my only option.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Raegan

  “Wait,” I stuttered in confusion. “We go to war? Like, battlecry and swords drawn?” I asked Claire.

  “No,” she said with wide eyes, “but that would be so cool. We could all get in old fashioned battle gear and take those assholes down. Derek could play Mel Gibson’s character in Braveheart. He’s Irish!”

  “Uh, isn’t Braveheart based in Scotland?”

  Claire shrugged. “Work with me here. None of the guys are Scottish that I know of. Derek’s the closest and he’s so good at playing the hero.”

  “Wasn’t William Wallace hung, drawn, and quartered?”

  Claire huffed in irritation. “You are totally ruining my fantasy here.”

  “You fantasize about going into battle with a sword?” I asked slowly. What had I gotten myself into with these people?

  “Well, I’ve never had a fantasy where I was the one that rescued Derek. He’s usually the superhero. I think now is the perfect time for a change in our roleplaying.”

  “I do often fantasize about shoving a sword into someone. Although, there is no hero, the sword is a gun, and I don’t have to wear any face paint.”

  Claire grabbed my hand and dragged me through the panic room to a room with computers set up. There were two women looking at something on a screen and talking animatedly.

  “Maggie!” Claire said excitedly. “What’s the plan? Should we gear up? Strap on our armor? Sharpen our swords? Prepare the horses?”

  “Well, since we don’t live in Medieval times, I think guns would be more efficient.”

  “Yeah, but can’t you just see it?” Claire said dreamily. “We’d be in those beautiful dresses and our knights would come to save us. Maybe there would be a duel in order for Derek to defend my honor!”

  “I totally get what you’re saying. I always hoped that when Xavier went off to sell his weapons that he would die in a duel defending my honor. That way I could leave him thinking better of him.”

  “You’re kind of twisted, you know that?” Claire said.

  “Says the woman that likes to watch her husband kill people.”

  “Look,” Maggie interrupted. “Normally, I would be all about running off and fighting the battles for our men. Defending their honor and killing the assholes that dared threaten us. I gotta say, I would really love to throw a grenade right about now. But Sebastian would be stressed out if we ran off and that’s not what he needs.”

  Becky placed a hand to Maggie’s forehead, frowning as she pulled her hand back. “Strange. I thought for sure that you were running a high fever because there is no way that Maggie, the woman that is so impulsive no one can ever predict what she’ll do, other than run into danger, would tell everyone to stand down.”

  “I’m trying to be a better wife and think about my husband’s feelings.”

  “So, no swords?” Claire asked in confusion. “No gun battle at the OK Corral? No riding off into the sunset on horseback?”

  “Afraid not,” Maggie sighed. “We’re sitting this one out, Lois.”

  “Damn, that just sucks.” Claire plopped down in
a chair and pouted. “You know, Derek wouldn’t just sit by while something happened to us. And you know that Cap would be leading the charge.”

  “Claire, we’re not going.”

  “Fine.”

  I sat down by Claire, who really looked truly devastated to not be able to go fight. It looked like we weren’t going to go play Dungeons and Dragons anytime soon.

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  It was so irritating waiting around. I had nothing to do and no idea what was going on. Besides Jackson coming by earlier, we hadn’t heard anything about what was going on. We knew some people had been injured, but that was it. I wandered around the panic room, which was a ridiculous term for what we were in. It was more of an underground mansion. There were enough rooms that every family could have someplace to sleep, along with about ten extra people. Every room was the same as mine for the most part. There were several beds with room dividers and an attached bathroom. There was a closet in every room that was filled with essentials like toothbrushes, soap, and hairdryers. They hadn’t missed a thing. And every room had spare clothes of nearly every size. Did they just go shopping for everyone and have their rooms stocked with extras?

  When I wandered into the kitchen, my eyes widened at the enormity of it all. It was more like an industrial kitchen with its super fancy appliances and steel countertops with special drains. I momentarily thought of a morgue with a drain on the table for autopsies and shuttered. There were two refrigerators, which seemed a little ridiculous until I thought of how many men there were, not to mention wives and kids.

  There were women and children scattered all throughout the extra rooms, which could be called living rooms, but were more like mini houses. There were three of these rooms and they all held every luxury you would find in a normal house. But the most disturbing room I found was behind what looked like a pantry door. It was filled with everything from canned goods, toilet paper, and bottled water to these weird packages that said they were meals, but vacuum sealed. I tossed it back in the pile and walked out.

  Hearing a single voice down one of the halls, I went to see who was there and almost choked on my own saliva. The room was like Steve Jobs’s dream come true. In reality, it rivaled the tech room in the Reed Security building. Becky was sitting in front of a computer and I almost walked in when I heard her speaking to someone on the phone.

  “Well, who’s currently admitted?…What about Jackson? I saw him limping around here earlier….Uh-huh….He just collapsed?… Oh my God! …Is he going to be okay? …How long do they think he’ll make it? …Is anyone going to tell her? …I can’t believe this…”

  I couldn’t listen to any more of her conversation. Jackson had collapsed and they didn’t think he was going to make it? And apparently no one was going to tell me. But why would they? As far as everyone else knew, Jackson and I weren’t an item. And technically we weren’t. He had kissed me earlier, but that had been our first kiss. I felt something hard sink in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t believe that I would never see Jackson again. I had to at least go say goodbye to him. I had come to care for him a lot over the past year, and even though I pretended like it didn’t hurt me when his friends mocked him for having a wife, deep down, I was wishing that someday that would be true.

  I rushed down the hall, needing to get out of here. I had to get to the hospital. But when I got to the entryway, I realized it wasn’t as simple as opening a door. I kicked the door in frustration and then hopped around on one foot from the pain I had just inflicted on myself.

  “What did the door ever do to you?” Maggie asked from behind me.

  I turned and glared at her. “I just found out that Jackson’s in the hospital. He collapsed and they don’t think he’s going to make it. I have to get to him, but this stupid door won’t open.”

  “Yeah, it’s not meant to open. If just anyone could come and go as they please, it wouldn’t be very safe.”

  I slid down the door and dropped my head into my hands. This couldn’t be happening. Jackson was supposed to be mine. That was the way I had planned it since I got to know him. I mean, he hadn’t come around to the same way of thinking, but it was only a matter of time before we figured things out. At least, that was what I told myself. Now I would never know what could have been.

  “I can’t believe I’m not going to get to say goodbye.”

  Maggie sat down next to me and patted my knee. “You don’t know for sure that he won’t make it. You just have to stay positive.”

  “Is that what you would do?” I looked at her sharply, begging her to deny it.

  Maggie gave a look of sympathy and then checked to see if anyone else was around. “Are you serious about getting out of here?”

  “Yes, I need to at least see him before…you know.”

  She nodded and took my hand. “Come on. We’re going to have to be quick.”

  I didn’t question her, I just followed and stayed quiet. We ran down several hallways until we were outside a room that I hadn’t seen in my explorations. Maggie opened the door and followed along the wall, not turning on the light. I swore we were going to trip over something, but she seemed to know exactly where we were going. She released my hand and I had a momentary panic attack being in the dark room and having no idea what was going on around me.

  “Where is it?” she grumbled. “I know it’s just…ah! Here it is.” I didn’t know what she did, but I heard a whoosh and then saw dim lighting in the floor, but it was only in one spot. I stepped closer, but felt her hand stop me. “Be careful. This is our way out, but you don’t want to just fall through the hole. Come on.”

  I saw her dark figure hover over the edge and then she dropped down below. I followed her lead and found myself in a tunnel that was lit with track lighting. Maggie went to the wall and hit a few buttons on the wall and the escape door closed above us. Maggie snatched something off the wall and then turned to me with a grin.

  “We only have a few minutes to get out of here. Becky will have gotten an alert by now. We have to run.”

  She took off and I ran after her, my heart pounding the whole way. I felt like I was in some kind of female version of a spy film. It was probably the most exciting thing I had ever done in my life. About a minute later, we were in a large space that was filled with vehicles. She held up the object and pressed something. I heard the beep of the vehicle and we were running toward it and hopping inside.

  “This place is seriously scary,” I said as Maggie peeled out of the parking space. “Who has a panic room the size of a mansion and hidden tunnels and vehicles? The next thing you know, we’re going to fly out of the bat cave!”

  “Not yet. We have to drive for a while before we’ll make it out of here.”

  “Where does it let out?”

  “In the middle of nowhere. The whole point is that no one knows there’s another entrance. It’s completely hidden.”

  “Right,” I said sarcastically. “I’m sure they use bushes and vines to cover the entrance, like in Robin Hood.”

  “You’re not too far off,” she grinned. “See this button here?” I looked by the center light and saw a small button that blended in with everything else. “This button opens a door on the other end, and yes, it’s covered with grass, vines, twigs, basically anything that would be growing in the area at the time.”

  “You know, this experience has really opened my eyes to all I’m missing out on. I’m seriously the luckiest girl in the world. Who wouldn’t want to have met and lived with an arms dealer, then lived with one of the hottest men ever, and ride around in secret tunnels under a panic room? This is the stuff life is made of. I tell ya what, all those girls out there that are living their normal, boring lives of going out with the man of their dreams and getting married and all that shit, they don’t know what they’re missing out on,” I said sarcastically.

  Maggie just chuckled at my sarcasm. “You get used to it.”

  “I’m sure. I mean, being pulled from a job to go hide in
a panic room because you’re trying to escape maniacs is probably second nature to all of you now.”

  “Well, I’ll admit that a few of the ladies have gotten fired from jobs when they’ve had to hide out, but you just learn to roll with the punches.”

  She hit the button and we were creeping up higher and higher in the tunnel until the road finally emerged from the side of a hill of sorts. Looking back, I could see there was a rock wall where the door had been, along with vines to cover the rocks to look more natural.

  “So, how are we going to get in the hospital without anyone seeing us? I’m sure your husband isn’t going to be too happy that we left.”

  “He won’t be. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ll be getting a phone call any minute now. I hope you know how much shit I’m going to be taking for you. I collect favors, so expect me to come to you one day when I need something.”

  The phone rang on cue and Maggie ignored it. “You’re not going to answer it?”

  “And get yelled at? Hell no. Just text him that I’m fine and I’ll be back at the panic room soon enough.”

  “I think we can do better than that.”

  “Ran out for Monistat One. Terrible yeast infection,” I said as I typed.

  “He’s going to think that’s a ridiculous reason to leave.”

  “It doesn’t matter. Men hate the subject and don’t want to talk about it.”

  The phone rang again and I answered this time. “Maggie’s phone.”

  “Put my wife on,” he growled.

  “I can’t. She’s currently in the bathroom.”

  “She suddenly developed a yeast infection and had to leave right now to get treatment?”

  “Well, trust me, you would have wanted her to. She had me go into the bathroom with her back in the panic room because she couldn’t see down there with her huge stomach, and trust me, you don’t ever want to see what I did. There was this white, curdling liquid that looked like cottage cheese, and you don’t even want to know how big her labia is. I’m surprised that she can even find her vagina right now. She was practically humping the furniture in the panic room because it itched so bad.”